Death or Life for Iwa
by AKLH
Summary: Youth gives way to time, death comes where there is life, and even mountains are destined to become dust. Destiny, however, will always be present; by placing this symbol upon your body, you agree to bind your destiny to that of your homeland...Eternally
1. I want to be Immortal

In the stone city of Iwa, filled with jagged cliffs and unforgiving walls of rock, a figure hid behind the cover of an alley wall, peeking around the corner at his prey. The figure, a man, seemingly whispered into the wall its self, "I have spotted the intruder, My Kage. He seems to be attempting some sort of complex jutsu. How shall I proceed?" The figure turned to look his way, and he hid once more, confident that he hadn't been seen; a look back to the alley confirmed this, the enemy hadn't budged an inch... what was he up to? Either way, the infiltrator was clearly a very experienced shinobi; close cropped short black hair, two deep scars running sideways across each cheek bone, and an all black generic special ops suit, nixing any village identifiers. The response echoed in his ear just loud enough for him to hear.

"Kill him; do not let him follow through with his plans. We will need to harvest him for information later, so keep his head intact." The wall whispered back silently.

A sinister smile crept onto the man's lips as he heard the command."My pleasure."

The man, his long, dark hair draped over his cloaked body, slid up the building he had been pressing against effortlessly, vying for an ambush position; He knew just how he wanted to confront this foe.

"Team leader to bravo; I fear that I may have been spotted." He whispered into the headset on his face as he continued with the preparations. "fall back, I am going to try and infiltrate-" the faint sound of feet pushing off from stone alerted him to an attack, With expert grace he dove and threw three shuriken behind his back, rolling to his feet facing his foe. The figure he saw was one of contrast, dense black clothing and hair made the man's pale skin stand out more than it might have. He recognized the man, or at least he fit the description of one of this village's more infamous shinobi.

"You would be Kanteki of the salt fields. Good, I had hoped to strike a deep scar into the village while I was here; the loss of a jounin such as yourself will be perfect." The figure laughed almost pleasantly at the statement as he dropped the three shuriken to the ground at his feet; he felt the man's eyes look him up and down.

"I wasn't aware I had a fan outside of this village. I suppose I would, though~ But, you see; this leaves me at odds, as I have no clue who you, the man who thinks he can kill _me_, are." He was prying for information; it was to be expected, but his attempts would prove futile. "What does it matter, ugly? You'll be dead soon anyhow." he sent back the reply that he thought would anger his obviously prideful opponent the most; an angry opponent was easier to outsmart. He didn't quite expect the reaction he got.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH I'LL SLIT YOUR-" The outburst was silenced as quickly as it had started. Obviously he didn't like being called ugly; that was a good tool to use against him. "Pardon me... well, we can always get your name from that head of yours after you die... I'll call you deadman until then, alright? Well, I'd better kill you and get this over with."

The dark haired man sprung into action, and deadman did as well, pulling out a kunai to send a slice at his opponent. To his surprise his blow landed, opening up a huge gash in his opponent's chest. The man stumbled back, and deadman pressed what seemed to be an early advantage; could killing this village ace really be so easy? No, no way. The man danced around his blows with seeming ease, spinning, juking, and making a fancy display of it. He didn't seem to be concerned about the bleeding chest wound at all. What the hell was with this guy, anyways?

He would have to try something drastic; he jumped back, making a hand signal, and then springing forward once more. All of a sudden a hail of kunai erupted from his body, flying right at his bleeding foe. In response, the man spun, letting his cloak envelop his body. All of the kunai made contact, and the cloak wriggled about as if who was inside it was about to fall. whew... That was close, too; using a technique like that and having anyone actually live to tell about it might have gotten him identified sooner or later. He watched warily as the cloak wriggled more, and then leaned over to fall. It fell flat, empty. His eyes widened as he heard a sound behind him... clapping. He spun quickly, seeing his cloakless enemy, the chest wound still visible, but none others. "That was certainly an interesting technique... I'll have to look it up, deadman." He stopped clapping, and then suddenly opened his hand wide, letting what looked like a sugar cube materialize slowly between his middle and index finger. "It's salt, if you're wondering... most people ask, and I get tired of hearing the questions. To make a long story short, I can regulate the salt in my blood to incredible extremes, hence, my name. I can even make it multiply, and grow at intense rates, even at a range. For example, when you cut me, _and I let you cut me_, you got some of my blood on your knife." His eyes quickly darted to the kunai in his hand... no blood. "I then used the salt in the blood to move it onto your hand, and then up your arm." A sinking feeling appeared in his gut as he looked over to his arm... a perfect circle of blood lay on it. "Don't try to brush it off, it's too late... I have already pushed some of my blood into your system, and am increasing the amount of salt in your blood. Normally, I would leave it at that, and let you dry out like a slug, but... well, you called me ugly, so instead, I'm going to use the salt if your blood to _rip every last drop of blood from your body! _Hmm, that wasn't really a short story, was it? Oh well, nice knowing you, deadman."

Oh god, he was going to die! With a yank of his long haired opponent's hand, he felt the skin at his wrists pull open, and his lifeforce being pulled out. He couldn't let it end like this...the deadman turned and stumbled to the circle he had been preparing the jutsu in. He had to do one last thing!

What was he doing? Didn't he know it was futile? He would have to hurry, then; there went the pleasure of watching this guy die slowly and painfully. The man made it back to the circle he had been preparing a jutsu in, but only got one handsign in before Kanteki pulled both of his hands out to the side quickly, escalating the speed at which he extracted the man's blood. With a terrible tearing sound, the man fell to his knees, and then flat onto the ground, still in his neat little circle. In his last second of life, before Kanteki knew it, he reached up and pressed a seal on his temple. He was trying to destroy his brain! Kanteki sped forward, kicking the hand away from the seal before he completed the process... The hand fell limp to the ground; the man's life was over.

Another shinobi appeared, a chuunin with brown spiky hair that was just a little too long "Kanteki sama-... Ah, you have succeeded." He moved over to check the body, looking up. "Oh man... The kage won't like this... it looks like he managed to erase some of the information in that noggin of his. Well, i'll take him down to intelligence to see what we can still get." He stood and patted his hands together, looking at his dark haired senior. "Man, this guy was some sorta bad ass, huh? From the looks of it he didn't have a drop of blood left in his body, but he still had the presence of mind to try and wipe his own memory... Wonder what his name was."

"He's just another dead man, Roma, do your job." Roma snapped to attention, nodding. "yessir!" He then grabbed the body and disappeared into the night. Kanteki didn't pay any more attention to the somewhat tardy chuunin; he instead stared at the circle... what had this shinobi been planning? He supposed it didn't matter anymore; what ever it was, he had failed.

"We will require your participation." The voice, rasped and hardened by decades of experience, spoke in a clearly measured tone. The response came in a slow drawl, as if its owner was just waking from a deep sleep.

"Yes, honorable Kage."

The kage's voice, which came not from a body, but from a small hole in the stone wall, shaped to resemble a mouth paused for a moment, and then responded once more.

"As you know, we are short on qualified personnel since the last war. I trust your… condition will not get in the way?"

"No, Honorable Kage." The shinobi responded, sitting up in his bed slowly. He reached up to rub his eyes as the village leader responded in a short, satisfied syllable.

"Good." The mouth in the wall closed, and then dissolved into the wall once more, accompanied by a low gravelly sound. Moments later a folder slid from the smooth stone surface as if from a mail slot, landing on the awoken shinobi's lap. He looked down at it for a moment, and then sighed, reaching down to open it.

"WAHOO!" the voice echoed down the hallways and through the walls of the academy building, reaching the ears of a certain young shinobi. He ignored it. He knew exactly who was yelling about like an idiot, and why. It was most certainly that dolt, Kobu, and he was yelling because he had passed the exams. He showed no signs of reaction behind the mask he wore on his face, instead waiting for a response from his interviewer.

There were three parts to an academy student's final examination; The first was the written exam, the second, the skill test, and the third was the interview. He sat on his knees in the final stage, a seal below his prone body that prevented him from telling lies.

"One final question," the older shinobi asked, eyeing the young student's demonic mask… of all the kids who had come through the academy, he had never met one quite like this. He never showed his face, never spoke unless spoken to, and excelled at everything but making friends. It creeped him out, but he couldn't hold him back just for that. He finished asking the final question.

"What is your goal in life? What do you hope to achieve."

The question got the most reaction out of the young ninja that he'd ever seen. It wasn't saying much; he simply paused for a moment, barely tilted his head for a fraction of a second, straightened it, as if caught doing something he shouldn't, and then answered very plainly.

"I wish to be immortal. To live forever."

It was an interesting answer, but he couldn't exactly mark it as a crime. He checked off the last box on his clip board, set it aside, and then reached into his bag, producing a head band with two stones staggered upon each other. He placed it on the desk in front of him, speaking in a serious tone. "Basariku, Kebimara; do you solemnly swear to live the life of an Iwagakure shinobi, to uphold and follow our laws, and give to us your servitude, your health, and life for the good of the village?"

"I do, Sensei." The boy responded almost immediately; he was eager to get started, it seemed.

"Good. From this day forward you are an Iwa shinobi; you will be assigned an instructor, and given a time and place to meet them. Your training will commence tomorrow. Take your head band." The older man then placed his thumb on a small seal on his desk, causing the seal underneath the boy to fade away. The boy then stood, and walked over to the desk, reaching out to grab his head band. A feeling arose in the interviewer's chest, and he suddenly felt the urge to speak more. He place his hand on the headband as well, looking into the eyes of the mask the boy wore.

"I knew your father. He would be proud of you." The boy paused, looking right back at him for a few moments before responding.

"Thank you, Loku, Sensei." He then took his head band, and walked out.

The older shinobi watched him leave, and then let out a deep breath. Jees, the kid was nothing like his father. Even so, he showed more promise than most of the kids of this generation, strange or not. He would have to keep an eye on him, though.

"Wahoo!" She was snapped from a daze as she looked up from the little paper in her hand. That would be Kobu... What an ass. Judging from the excitement, he had gotten through with flying colors. Her, on the other hand; she looked down to the slip of paper in her hand once more. It was her assessment. She had passed, barely. She didn't know whether to feel relieved, or like a failure. She heard rapid footsteps approaching, and quickly placed the paper behind her back; she would be damned if anyone would see the horrendous scores she'd gotten.

"Hah! Flying colors!" The voice rounded the corner with it's owner, a young boy with a round face, blue eyes, and a blue Mohawk atop his head, not spiked so it listed lazily to the side. He had a look of reckless excitement across his face, which transformed into a mischievous grin once he spotted her. Oh great.

"Hey Marin~"He spoke, sliding on up to her and eyeing her arms, which were placed behind her back, hiding the assessment paper.

"Hi, Kobu." He ignored her response, maneuvering his head around to try and see what she was hiding.

"Howd' ya do, huh? Pass this time? It would be a bummer if you failed again." What. An. Ass. Of course he would bring up, once again, that she was the oldest student in the academy, and that she had failed the assessment twice before.

"Sorry to disappoint. I passed. With flying colors." She did her best to put on a confident smile, but the boy saw through her guise right away.

"Really, now? Wacha hiding, then? That your assessment?" He made an effort to reach around her to grab the slip of paper, which was poking out behind her back a little. She tried to move away, but he predicted the movement, and juked around the other side, reaching around widely and snatching the paper from her without making any contact. ARGH! Why did an ass like him have to be so talented? She jumped forward to snatch it back, but he stopped her with a palm to the face, holding her back as he examined the paper

"Lets see here… Ohhh. Written assessment… Acceptable, not bad. Ninjutsu, fail, ouch. Genjutsu, barely passing; double ouch. And of course… Taijutsu, Sloppy, but with potential due to bloodline." He let his arm go limp, stepping back so that she stumbled forward a little, glaring at him with a look of seething hatred. "Hah! You only passed cause of your stupid bloodline?" She stared at him for a moment, and then clenched her fist tightly.

His eyes darted to the fist for a moment… was she going to hit him? He was smart enough to know that a punch from someone like her was… dangerous. He stepped back a little, but realized quickly that there was no blow coming; he looked back to her face to see tears streaming freely from it. "Y-… you're such an ass, Kobu!" She then turned and bolted out, leaving her assessment behind.

The young shinobi stared at her as she went, and then frowned slowly. Wow. He'd really done it this time, hadn't he? He dug up his own assessment, and eyed it for a moment; he was average across the board. Did he really have any space to poke fun at Marin? He sighed, and turned to leave as well. Maybe he really was an ass. Well, at least he wouldn't have to really deal with her much in the future, would he? He would just wait for a while and apologize to her later.

Before he made it tow steps he found himself face to face with a dark haired kid about his height, but with starp features, and a sly grin. "Ahh, Kobu. All average, huh?" His eyes widened as they slowly followed the other kid's line of sight to the assessment held loosely in his grasp. "Dakera..."

"How does it feel?" The kid asked him, prompting him to look up slowly, and nervously. Was he going to get hit now? Being around this kid was distressing, especially when someone big who liked you wasn't around... He quickly looked for someone to hide behind. "_look at me."_ His eyes snapped to the bully. "How does it feel to know that you'll never been as good as I am?"

"It feels better than it would If I was as ugly as you." It came out before he had a chance to think. Oh crap. He had never talked back to Dakera before. What has he thinking? He saw the fist in front of his eye just a moment before it made him see stars.

From his 'knocked on your ass' position, he heard the boy hissing as he walked away. "You smart mouthed little prick! I'm never gonna let you forget disrespecting me. N_ever." _

"I heard that he was in the house when it happened. The fire burned his face all up, and that's why he's wearing that creepy mask!"

They spoke just loud enough for him to hear, on purpose. Children where spiteful like that. Cruel. He didn't have to be; he was above them. He was the same age, yes, but he was not immature enough to resort to such childish means when it came to explaining something he didn't understand.

"I heard he set the fire himself… Cause he wanted to steal his daddy's soul!"

He heard their words. He listened. But he didn't care. They were weak; they were jealous.

"What? That doesn't make any sense. What would he do with his father's soul?"

"He keeps it in his mask."

It was all nonsense anyways. Still, the rumors made them fear him, which in turn meant they had to respect him. This gave him an edge. It would make him stand out, which, combined with his exceeding assessment would land him with the best sensei. Perhaps he would be selected by Kanteki, sensei; he was a pretty boy, but was widely recognized as a very skilled ninja. A teacher like that would bring him closer to greatness.

"Ohhh… creepy. That's impossible, though. I bet he just wears it cause he thinks it makes him cool."

He decided that the conversation had gone on long enough, and turned to look at the three fresh genin talking about him. The three boys, Doseki, a short, sharp looking kid with a big, pointed nose, Houbu, a nerdy looking chump with glasses, and Bakku, the ring leader, a boy who was slightly taller and stronger than most people his age, all froze in their tracks, eyeing him cautiously.

"It might be because it makes me look cool… But then again, how do you know it's not?" All three boys gulped audibly, and then dispersed awkwardly into the rest of the crowd.

Idiots.

A big grin plastered his face as he tied on his head band. Sure, the whole deal with Marin charging off blubbering was sad and all, but he had just finally become a shinobi! How could be stay distressed? His academy days were through with, and he was about to find out who his instructor would be! He hoped it was someone dark and mysterious like Rothe, or openly bad ass like Kokuma, then again, neither of them was as famous as Kanteki. His thoughts were interrupted by three girls passing by chattering madly at one another… It was the Kanteki fan-club, Parimae, Karina, and Narika, otherwise known as Pari, Kari, and Nari. They were all very open about their admiration for the long, raven haired jounin with the sharp features and the reputation to match.

"Omigodomigodomigod I hope he picks me!"

"Nonsense! He's gonna pick me! I have higher scores"

"You're both wrong! He'll pick me, I'm the cute one! You know he has a thing for cute girls!"

"You're 12! He wouldn't want you! He would want me, I'll be 13 soon!"

He couldn't help but chime in under his breath. "…really?"

He got a unison, "huh?" in response, and blinked for a moment, Awkward… he hadn't expected them to hear. "Eh… nothing… nothing at all." That wasn't true… what he wanted to say was that Kanteki was easily double their ages, and hoping that he would 'want' them was… Gross, and on top of that, all three of them where lower rung shinobi; they never paid any attention in class because they were too busy with their stupid fan club! It was doubtful that any of them would be selected by a shinobi of such renown, especially with such a limited pool of shinobi to pick from.

The girls eyed him for a moment, and then went on chattering.

"Omigad did you hear he took down a spy?"

"He so coo~l!"

Kobu decided it was best to blend into the background. He passed Doseki, Bakku, and Houbu on the way into the crowd, but decided not to say hi because, well, they looked like they were freaked out about something… Oh well, they were all kinda thick anyways. He finished blending, and ended up behind that Kebimara kid… The creeper with the demon mask. Truth be told, he really couldn't knock the guy; he was kinda cool in his own strange little way.

The crowded assembly room went dead silent as the doors opened, and the three academy teachers walked in. They all wore small smiles on their faces as they walked up onto the stage, letting the crowd of anxious students part in front of them as they did. The head teacher, Roku-sensei held a scroll in his hands, and took center stage, the other two teachers at his flank.

The room went from a low, excited hum of chatter to dead silent with a wave of the teacher's hand. "Yesterday, you were children; boys and girls. But from today, onward, you are shinobi. You will start as genin, and some of you will die before you ever reach chuunin. Since this moment, you were protected as boys and girls, but from here on you are young men and women, and you are responsible for yourselves. Be proud of this. Use that responsibility as a privilege, a ladder with which you can climb to new heights, and serve your village to your greatest ability. My students, I am proud to say that I believe in every single one of you. As you all know, many of our shinobi were wiped out in the last war; this means that this village needs, and will depend, on all of you being successful in your training. This village believes in you, and has its trust and hopes buried deep within each one of you. Do not let it down."

Wow. That was morbid. The teacher's face went from a holding a solemn, serious look to a small smirk immediately.

"Now that I'm done rambling, I'm sure you all would like to know who your jounin team leaders will be, respectively. I have, in my hands, the list containing all of the teams. I will post it on the wall behind me on the way out; the shinobi that reach it first get to find out first. Fun, huh?" He grinned, spun, and threw the scroll at the wall so hard that it unrolled on impact. With a quick flick of the wrist he sent two senbon into it to pin it in place. In a poof of smoke, he, and the other teachers, were gone.

The room went silent for a moment once more as all of the students took a moment to register what just happened. The silence was broken by a loud. "ME FIRST!" just before all hell broke loose.


	2. What a nightmare

What a nightmare:

"Me first!" A bigger kid tried to pull himself up onto the stage, but a tall, lanky boy grabbed him and pulled himself up, using the boy as a platform. That was all Marin caught sight of before the whole room burst into action, everyone trying to get their first look at the list. People pushed, shoved, got into little scraps, and yelled words at each other that she was pretty sure 12 to 13 year olds shouldn't be saying. It was all she could do to stay on her feet, with all of the people pushing and bumping into her…

Oh no… If they bumped into her too much they might set off her ability! She needed to get out of here! "You're a danger right now, right?" She heard a voice right behind her ear. It was calm; way too calm for all of the bustle around them… and it was also familiar. "y-yes!"

"I have already seen the list. I can help you get out of here." With much effort, she turned to see who the voice belonged to, and was taken aback by the proximity of a demonic mask. It was that Kebi kid from class; the one who never really spoke, and always wore that mask.

"O-okay." Without a word the masked ninja grabbed her hand, which made her cheeks feel warm for some reason, and started pulling her through the crowd, weaving through with expert precision. Before they knew it they were at the back of the room, which was empty, as everyone was pushing forward.

He dropped her hand, and walked over to the wall, leaning against it in complete silence. He seemed pensive. "Thank you… er... Kebimaru, right?"

"Don't worry about it. You might have accidently hurt someone, so I was merely doing my duty." She nodded slowly… He was so mature. So… cool. She'd never really thought of it before. She wondered what he looked like under the mask.

"Oh, and about the list…" She listened intently to him as he spoke; did he see what team she was on? "You aren't on it." A sinking feeling was set upon her. It was like her stomach was falling into her feet. Not on the list? Did that mean… oh god… maybe she hadn't really passed after all! Her mom had been so proud of her when she told her… It made her want to… cry…

* * *

Hmm. It seemed she was going to cry about it. Little girls were so melodramatic. He ignored her and went back to his thoughts… It was true, the girl wasn't on the list, but the odd thing was that he wasn't on the list either. He wondered why. He had been the first to see the list, having started moving silently as soon as the teacher mentioned where he was going to post it, and had quickly memorized as much of it as he could.

From what he recalled, he, and two other of the shinobi of his class where not on the scroll. He wasn't worried, though… There was no way they would neglect to put him in a team; he had the highest marks in his class. He was somewhat worried, though, about the other two shinobi that had been left out. There was the girl, who had an interesting blood line and some workable talent in taijutsu, but from all he had seen of her, she was a bit of a screw-up, and then… him.

* * *

"Outa my way!" He yelled as he kicked a kid in the back of the knee to buckle it, and then climbed over him to move further. He shoved one kid to the side, and then squeezed in between two fat boys. There it was! The list! He pushed further, and then grabbed the kid in front by the back of the shirt, yanking him away, and taking his place.

A big grin came to his face as he eyed the scroll, looking up and down at the names on it. The smile faded as he read through the list, and didn't see his name. He checked again; it had to be some sort of mistake. It wasn't there. He read through again, and again, and again before he felt a hand pulling at him. He did his best to stay in position, his eyes plastered into the slip of paper. The next thing he knew he was cast off into the crowd… He let himself go, limping all of his muscles as the crowd pushed him back on its own. What the hell? Why wasn't he on the list? Did they forget him? He'd done just fine on the assessment. Was there something wrong with him?

He found himself ejected out the back of the crowd, and stumbled, falling onto his bottom, and just sitting there ,staring at the ground.

* * *

The room emptied out, kids chattering excitedly about their teams, and meeting their new team mates on the way out. Kobu just sat there. He heard an excited squeal, and then looked up to see Nari, Kari, and Pari gathered around the list, all jumping up and down.

"He picked me!"

"And me!"

"and me too!"

"Sister hug!"

Ugh… it made him sick… He was a better ninja than all three of them, and yet… from what he could tell… The most famous shinobi in the village had just picked… them. Who ever heard of an all girl team, anyways? This was bullshit. Complete and utter bull-

"Seisho, Koburan?"

His eyes darted up to see Roku sensei standing in front of him. "Yeh?"

"I apologize for the inconvenience, youngin; you were not on the team list, but you have been assigned to a team. The teacher was uncertain until just last night, and the list could not be changed in time. It seems they have pulled a teacher out of retirement to train you. Your other team mates have been informed." The older man fished out a slip of paper. "On this is the time and location of your meeting. Don't be late, kid, or I'll be seeing you in the academy next year."

So… He was on a team? Hah! He hadn't been forgotten after al-wait… they pulled his new sensei out of retirement? So… it was going to be some old fogey! An image of an old man with a walking stick complaining about an aching back while trying to teach them to run up walls popped into his head… Oh god… What a nightmare.


	3. Look up!

He was early. Why shouldn't he be? He had nothing better to do. He had already gone over the bios of his students countless times. He had a pretty good idea of how he wanted to develop them individually, and as a team. Still, he would need confirmation in the form of some sort of test. He fiddled with the small rubber ball in his hand once more as he thought of how he would do this. In a motion practiced countless times, he tossed the ball against the bark of the tree, and caught it without having to look, repeating the process over and over. He had just arrived on his decision in a sort of 'duh' laced eureka moment when he heard footsteps approaching. He looked up from his hidden position, where he had planned to drop from his hidden spot in the tree when all of his students had gathered, giving them a fright, and looking super cool in the process.

Kids liked that stuff, right? They didn't want to be taught by some lamer, that was for sure. He couldn't see anyone through the branches at this point. Curses! He had picked this spot specifically because it was a less travelled area. How could he wow his students if a freaking crowd was watching? Of course, the same thing that would give him the advantage of surprise also stole away his vision ,so he couldn't see the one who was making life tough for him just yet. Oh well, he had other ways of seeing things. The need for such a tactic was eliminated, though, as the person stepped into a spot that he could see through the leaves. It was a girl, just a kid. Oh! He recognized her face from the student bio. Umeki , Marin. It looked like her from a distance, at least. Brown hair cut above the shoulders, a nervous look in her soft blue eyes that was akin to a kicked puppy, and the signature clothing of her clan, emblemized wrist wraps and all. It was definitely her. What was she doing here so early, though?

He shifted his position in perfect silence in order to get a closer look. She looked… Sad. Were those tears? Well, girls her age tended to be rather emotional, right? He supposed he'd better go see what was up. Well, there went the element of surprise. He slid down the tree silently.

* * *

She'd had to leave the house early. She just couldn't stand it. The fact that she would never be good enough for her dad was actually made worse by the fact that her mom loved and supported her no matter what. The two had gotten in a fight over the usual, and she left before they were done. Before she knew it she was crying. She took a seat and started wiping her eyes on her wrist wraps.

"What's the matter, kid?" The voice made her jump in surprise. She looked up to find the voice, her heart racing nervously. "Who- who're you" she asked, a little frazzled still. It wasn't every day that someone you didn't know just randomly started asking questions. He looked harmless enough, though. In fact, he looked insanely plain. Was she a village chuunin? He might even still be a genin, though at his age it would be a little pathetic. It was odd, though, that there was nothing at all unique about him, at least in appearance…. Did that make him unique in and of itself? He crouched to get at eye level, but seemed careful not to get uncomfortably close.

"Me? Just a concerned citizen's-all." She eyed him for a moment, and then sighed, turning a away a little. "It's nothing…"

"You sure you don't wanna talk about it? Sometimes it helps to just get things off your chest, y'know?" He really was just some harmless well-meaner, then… Normally she wouldn't say anything, but she was in a strange mood; maybe talking about it actually would help. "Well… I dunno. I feel… Useless. I try so hard, but I never get anywhere in my training. I just skate by, barely, while everyone else is getting so much better. I just feel like I don't belong. To top it all off, I barely got on a team; they had to pull some old guy out of retirement to teach us… I'm waiting to meet him and my team right now… I wish I'd gotten picked by Kanteki Sensei. I'm at least a little better than Nari, Pari, and Kari."

"I dunno. Maybe' you're better off than you think. I'm sure… whoever those girls you mentioned are will find out soon enough." The man had a solemn look on his face for a moment that confused the heck out of her. "what do you mean by that?"

* * *

The older man looked down to his soon to be student, considering her question for a moment. What did he mean? He'd better not talk about it. The girl would find out soon enough, he was sure of it. On the bright side, it didn't look like she knew who he was... Of course! They must have been told someone was being taken out of retirement to teach them, but they probably didn't expect someone to retire at his age, either. Heck, he was just barely 25 years old! She was still looking at him oddly. Subject change time!

"It's nothing. But listen, okay? Sometimes it takes a little bit to find your place in the world, but everyone has one; everyone has a role to play. I can tell you one thing, though. You made it this far, which means you do, in fact, belong here." She smiled a little. Just a little. It was a start. "Besides, you never know, your teacher could be quite the shinobi." She laughed a little. It hadn't been a joke… Well… At least he'd cheered her up.

"Well… I'm off to do… some ninja stuff. See ya around, kiddo. Oh, and if you are early, cause it is very early, why don't you get some last minute training in? You know most teachers like to test their students before hand, so you might wanna get warmed up. " He stood to his full height; it was time to leave for now. It turned out, he did have some things to research after all.

"Thank you, Mister… Hey wait, what's your name?" He disappeared into the trees before she'd finished asking.


	4. Late

"Kobu honey~ wake up!" He looked up from his laid out equipment pouch; everything he needed was here.

"I'm up already, mah!" Kobu yelled somewhat annoyed as he carefully fitted everything into the right areas; didn't she know he was a fully fledged genin, now? He was grown up enough to wake up on his own for sure! The young ninja hopped up quickly to his feet, strapping his pouch on over his shoulder, and making sure it was secure. The pouch opened right at his chest for easy access on the go; it was his own design, and he was sure it would catch on sooner or later. "what's up, squirt?" He looked up, it was his older brother, Gato, already a chuunin. "hey bro! I'm gonna go meet my sensei!"

"I heard! Hey, are you really wearing that crazy looking bag of yours? Guess it aint any worse than your haircut." Kobu got a grumpy look on his face at that, and moved to kick his brother in the shin. He quickly moved out of the way, smiling innocently.

"Hey, hey! Touchy! I'm just playing with you." He looked at his watch. "You'd better head out, though, or you'll be late!"

One slam of the door later, and he was out, equipment and mother-made lunch in hand. Today was gonna be a good day, for sure!

* * *

Kebi had planned it out to be immaculate. He would be on time; perfectly on time. First he would run around the whole city, as was his weekday routine, then he would work on his new genjutsu, and after that was done, he would wash, prepare himself, and make it to the meeting spot without a second to spare. Perfect.

He executed most of it impeccably. Most of it. He paced towards the meeting spot, doing calculations in his head on just how old their teacher might be… Most shinobi in a village so low on experienced ninja retired only when they were too old to safely perform missions; by this estimate, the teacher would be an old geezer. Such an image was not promising. He hoped their teacher would be able to keep up with him. He was snapped out of his thoughts by fast approaching footsteps.

"-COMING THROUGH!" He felt a harsh bump, and stumbled to the ground, falling to a knee. What the hell was that? "Sorry! Gotta go, though!" Wait… was that… Kobu? That dolt had just had the nerve to bump into him! Wait a second; was he heading the same way? "No…" No, it couldn't be! He wasn't the third team mate was he? He had already met the girl, they had been informed of the meeting place together, and she was bad enough as it is. Sure, Kobu wasn't a horrible ninja, but he was just so… unprofessional. He clenched his fists as he climbed to his feet again. He'd just have to hope that the idiot was just heading the same way. His internal clock was now off; he had no way of telling if he would be on time, or seconds late. There went his perfect schedule. He reminded himself to tear Kobu a new one the next chance he got.

* * *

Kobu arrived at the spot, and immediately froze as he saw who was there. Marin. She looked sweaty; had she been training? Her hand wraps were all scuffed. She hadn't noticed him yet; mostly because he hid behind a tree when he saw her. Aw crap; he supposed he should apologize. Er… Maybe not. Maybe she'd forgotten already. Girls had bad memories, right? Yeah. Sure. He nodded to himself, and strode confidently out into the clearing.

"What are _you_ doing here?" She hadn't forgotten.

"I- eh… I'm here to meet my sensei? M- maybe I'm in the wrong spot."

"Nope." The voice came from the tree line, and its owner appeared in a flash and a puff of smoke. Wow! What an entrance… too bad he looked so plain. It would have definitely looked cooler if he was all pimped out or something.

"Now, where is Kebimara San? He is late."


	5. Found ya

"Looks like we found the bastards." The giant of man stood behind a rocky outcropping at the edge of a small cliff overlooking seemingly endless forest. He spoke to another gentleman, an unnaturally lanky fellow with a big, gooffy grin plastered on his face.

"Ts-haha! Yup we did Kokuma-buddy! I was beginning to wonder, heh, that we wouldn't!" The giant man rolled his eyes. as he poked his head out just enough to catch a glimpse of the horizon. They had tracked them almost all of the way to the border between stone and grass. He watched as a small dot; a hawk flew in towards where Douba had spotted their prey. "Douba, is the bird with them? Perhaps a messenger?"

"Oh~ yeah buddy. Looks like it. He's got metal on him. Prolly a message case or something. Heh, cant tell from this distance." Kokuma nodded. He had to give it to the younger jounin. he was always laughing like an idiot, and called him buddy when they definitely were not friends, but his skills were invaluable.

"Good job. Lets move out." He started making his way nimbly down the rock face.

"Aww shucks, it was nuthin, Ts-hah!"

On second thought, maybe the negatives outweighed the positives.

"Oh~ looks like they got the place pretty trapped up there, pal. There's metal wired lace all through the trees. Looks sharp, too." They had gotten much closer to where their opponents had been resting, except it looked like they hadn't been resting after all. They had been preparing an ambush. Once again, Douba's metal detection had proven invaluable.

"They expect us, then. Remember, they must be fairly certain their team leader is dead by now... If we can manage to throw them off with taunts, that may cause them to make mistakes. Now, is there a clear path of approach for us?"

His lanky companion's eyes, covered with a metal sheen, darted about quickly, and he turned and shook his head widely. "Nope. Whoever did this is rea~lly good. A trap expert, maybe. The only safe method of entry is from above, and I'll bet they are prepared for that as well... heh... guess that makes this a little complicated, huh?"

"Not really. I will just have to use a less conventional method of travel. Once they are distracted, you will enter from the top." He nodded to the younger man, and then started his handsigns.

"Sounds like a plan, pal! good lu~ck."

He sunk into the ground slowly, hearing only the sound of Douba's low giggling as his waist, chest, and then head went under.

A short swim later, his head came up behind a rock, barely poking out enough to view the enemy team... There were two of them; just like the kage had said. From this distance it looked like a male and a female. He could barely make out what they were saying, so he listened closely.

"-looks like they've definitely found us. The hawk saw them on the way in. At least two."

A girls voice. She seemed sad, rather than worried as she spoke to the man next to her. They were both dressed in special ops blacks- free of village identification. The man nodded slowly. "I knew they wouldn't be far behind... It's likely they've sent some of their best."

"if they killed ge-"she began to speak, but was cut off by the man.

"Don't say his name; they may be listening, even right now... I know. We... might not make it out of this one. Which is why its important that... the bird at least gets the message to... Our leader."

They turned to each other, standing there for a moment. And then they embraced in a long kiss. It was... odd behavior for a shinobi on a mission. He saw the sparkle of a tear falling from the woman's face as she pulled away, and nodded. "I... I understand."

She then kneeled next to the bird, her back to him, and seemed to fiddle with a capsule on it's leg... That was the messenger. Time to shoot it! He burst from the ground, pulling a kunai, and flinging it through the air at the bird of prey. A wire came from the side and smacked into it, and the bird shot off into the woods. Damn it! It looked as if the element of surprize hadn't been enough. They would have to kill these two quickly of they were going to catch up.

"We've been expecting you." The wires origin, the male, spoke with a smirk, a wire already grasped between each finger.

As if on cue, Douba sailed through the air, landing at his side just as he landed from his attack. Then woman rose to her feet, and turned to them, a disturbingly blank look on her face. The four ninja stood across from each other, each assessing the opposing team.

The unnamed man was the first to speak. "Iwa shinobi, listen and listen well. You made a mistake in following us; one you will pay dearly for. You see, you have fallen right into my trap!" He then pulled at his wires, and then with a mighty swing, launched them above their heads, letting go of the ends. The wires flew up to the top of the clearing, and then froze in the air. A glare came to Kokuma's face. They were trapped in. The opponent pulled another set of strings from a set of spools at his sides, a look of grim determination set on his face. "Douba, handle the girl. I'll take care of this one."

"Yessir!" Hmm. It looked like the younger jounin wasn't so talkative in combat. Maybe he wasn't so unprofessional afterall. "I got his handled, pal! Ts-hawhaw!" Or... not.

Their prey began moving immediately. The man started swinging his wires around; they cut almost anything they touched, slicing deep into a tree behind him. The woman made a bee-line for Douba, who giggled playfully, and ran to meet her. The trap-master then targeted him. swinging his slicing wires in his direction. In a flash he cranked out some hand signals with speed only a master could manage, and slammed his hands into the ground, causing a wall of earth to meet the wires, which cut in, but not all the way through. He jumped to the top of the wall as his opponent struggled to pull his wires free of the stone. In a fluid motion, Kokuma reached to his side, pulled a large knife, and launched it at his opponent. The man, obviously not an amature, ducked the blade, and finally got his wires free, pulling one hand around in a wide swipe at him, and the other down from the top to make it so he couldn't just jump over the first attack. He opted for plan c, leaning backwards to fall behind his wall. As soon as he landed he rolled to the side in time to dodge the second set of wires as it came down from above, bending over the wall and slicing deep into where he had been standing moments before. With a mighty pull, the man brought the wall down. Damn; this wasn't going to be as easy as he thought.

"As you can see, I'm more than a match for you, Iwa shinobi." The man spoke, swinging his wire again, Kokuma jumped, barely sailing over them and ducking the second set as they flew past.

"I wouldn't get so cocky. I'm just warming up." he stayed in his crouched position, completeing a set of handsigns, and pressing his hands against, and then into the ground. The other man saw a chance to attack, and swung his wires quickly. Ten hands of stone popped out from around Kokuma to stop them, grasping them tightly. The enemy shinobi's eyes widened, and he ditched the wires, bolting to the side just as another set of hands burst from the ground at his feet. They clenched and found air.

"You would be the stone fist, Kokuma, then." The man came to a halt, reaching behind his back to grab more wire. "This may be a challenge."

"Looks like your team has done thier research. Your leader was a pretty knowledgeable fellow, too. You know, before he died in a very painful fashion." His opponent's eye twitched, and he sent another hand from the ground to try and grasp him. He got ahold of a foot this time as his foe tried to jump to the side. Before he could do anything with the advantage, the man pulled a jagged looking line from his back; it was like a saw blade, only long and thin. He flung it at the stone hand, wrapping it around three times, and then pulling hard enough to sever it cleanly. It crumbled to dust. "What do you say we end this quickly, huh? I've definitely bought enough time for our message to get too far away to track. We might as well find out who is going to leave this place alive, right?" The man jumped to the far side of the clearing, neatly avoiding Douba, who was chasing after his opponent and swinging two long metal blades that had taken the place of his hands at the girl. She dodged and sidestepped his attacks with unnatural agility, sometimes seeming weightless.

"Remember when I said you had fallen into my trap? It was no lie. You won't survive the next thirty seconds." Kokuma quickly pulled his hands from the ground as the man reached down and grabbed some wire that had been burried in the ground. He looked up to the woman, still engaged in battle, and spoke sadly, "forgive me..." And then, with a mighty yank, he pulled on all of the wire he had placed around the forest, causing the complex pattern he had created to close like a knot... A knot with his opponent in the middle. All of the trees around the clearing were sliced clean in half; it was Kokuma's only hint as to what was going on. He reacted quickly, his handsigns coming faster than ever. He finished, raising his hand to the sky. A round, thick wall of stone came up around him. Douba and the girl were not so lucky. The wire caught both of them, and dragged them all of the way to the stone wall, pinning them against it.

Not to be set back by the wall his opponent had blocked his attack with, the enemy did a hand sign, and then reached up his hands to point them at the wires that he had suspended in the air at the beginning of the battle. "It's over." He swung his hands down, and the wires shot down into the hole in the top of the circle like giant deadly spears.

"Yeah. It's over." The trap master went rigid as he heard the voice right behind him. It wasn't the voice that made him go rigid, though, but the large knife in his back. He fell to his knees, sputtering up blood. "I haven't lost, you know... I killed your team mate... and you..."He coughed up more blood. Clearly one of his lungs was sliced clean through. "you didn't kill any of mine." Kokuma looked up from the dieing man to see not a woman pressing against it, but the figure of a lifeless bird. His eyes widened. She must have switched places with that hawk somehow! He looked down to the man, who laughed a little more, sunk lower, and then opened his black suit wide. "So long, then." His chest was plastered with explosive tags! Kokuma quickly dove to the side, narrowly escaping the loud explosion that engulphed the man.

He rolled to his feet and waited for the smoke to clear. First, he eyed the mess left over from the explosion. His opponent was definitely dead. They wouldn't be able to get any information from him either. He sighed heavily, and walked on up to the round wall he had made. "Douba, you alright?"

Not to his surprize, a giggle came in response. "Yup. I protected myself. Figured i'd let him die thinkin he'd actually gotten something done, yaknow?" He had protected himself well. Where the wires touched his skin, it had been morphed into a silvery metal. Little blades came from under the wires, severing them with some effort. The silver then faded back into his skin. "I'm gonna hafta get new clothes now... bummer. Oh well, though. say, that was pretty cool, the way you sank into the ground before his attack came. Howd ya know he was gonna attack from above, too?

"Because he was smart. He had to have known that I would block the first attack. He didn't take into account my other abilities though... I guess no one can think of everything."

"Cept you, huh? hah hah!" The man giggled for a moment, and then paused. "The hawk lady is too far off for me to detect. I guess this means we missed her, huh?"

"Yes... Yes it does. Nothing we can do about it now, though. We have to report back to the Kage." He took one last look at his opponent's charred remains, and then they both jumped off into the distance.


	6. The test Pt1

"Um… Who are you?" The kid with the blue Mohawk spoke up.

Name: Seisho, Koburan.

Preferred alias: Kobu.

Performance: Average across the board.

Temperament: Lacks discipline, but shows some promise in all areas, but has yet to excel in any one area.

Notes: See how he fits into the team dynamic; Mold him so that he can-

"And why are you holding a clip board?" He froze, looking up at the curious eyes of the two young shinobi in front of him. He hadn't thought of how decidedly uncool pulling out a clip board to look at his notes one last time would be; he quickly placed the clip board behind his back and cleared his throat. "Uhm hum! I am Kubaki Yasashik-"

"I apologize for my lateness. Where is our instructor?" The third student finally showed up.

Name: Basariku, Kebimara.

Preferred alias: None; Dubbed the Death Mask by his peers.

Performance: High marks in all areas, though he shows near prodigal proficiency in the art of Genjutsu

Temperament: Silent; almost worryingly so. He never parts with his mask. He is feared by his class mates, mostly through the spreading of rumors.

Notes: I wonder what is beneath that mask…

New note: Not the type I would expect to be late- perhaps th-

"Excuse me… " Oh god, he was doing it again, wasn't he? He was even writing this time! Yasa looked down at the pencil and clip board in his hand, and then quickly placed them behind his back once more. "Are you here to tell us where our teacher is?" It was the girl.

Name: Umeki, Marin

Preferr- No! No no no! He tossed the clip board into the bushes at his side quickly, and the three students watched it go. After a moment of awkward silence, the one called Kobu stepped up, yawning loudly, and turning to walk away. "Well, that does it… The old man musta busted his hip on the way here- I'm gonna go get some shut eye."

Oh god, he was losing them. "Stop. I am here to tell you where your sensei is." The young man paused, and turned, and a quick scan showed that he'd gotten the attention of the other two as well.

Yashashiku smiled slyly, and puffed out his chest, standing in a valiant pose. "Your sensei stands before you. He is none other than myself, Kubaki, Yashashiku! The scarless Shinobi!" In his mind, fireworks went off behind him, and his student's eyes were replaced with stars. They clutched their hands together and bowed before his greatness!

"I've never heard of him, have you?"

"Nuh uh."

His body turned to stone, and his mural made from worshiping students and fireworks shattered, falling to the ground at his feet.

"Scuse me… Why aren't you old?" It was the Mohawk kid.

"I… eh… Pardon?" He was still thrown off guard by their lack of awe.

"Loku sensei said they were taking a teacher out of retirement… "

"That is correct."Alright, time to pull yourself together…

"Then… why aren't you old?"

"that's not important." Hah! You've got him on the ropes now! The old 'because I said so' should finish him off!

"Maybe he just really sucked, so they made him retire early." He turned to stone again, watching as Kobu and Marin huddled together and spoke in whispers that were woefully loud enough for him to hear. Kebi, the masked one, just took a seat and folded his arm, crossing his legs in silence.

"I dunno… He said he's the scarless shinobi… maybe he hasn't been in battle at all. Every shinobi gets hurt, right? It's only normal. He's nice at least… We talked earlier. Kinda plain, though."

That was enough. They would take him seriously or this was not going to work. The scarless shinobi reached into his pocket.

"Yeah… I can't point out anything cool about hi-" Kobu was interrupted by something whizzing past his head incredibly fast, so close it made his hair move. His eyes widened as whatever it was rebounded off of the trees around them audibly, flew in between Marin and him, narrowly missing them, and then landed safely in the hands of the man they had been talking about. He glanced to Marin, who's eyes were just as wide as his, and then to their sensei.

"Glad to see you're finally paying attention." The man had a narrow grin on his face that made a chill go down Kobu's spine. He opened his hand to reveal a small round object… A… Bouncy ball? The man flicked his hand, and the ball rolled up onto his finger tip, where he balanced it easily, and let it fall the side so he could catch it in between his index and middle finger. With another flick, two more spheres appeared, held between his four fingers. " Though you wear head bands, you are not shinobi yet. I still have the power to send you back to the academy where you came from, should I deem you unprepared. Now, do the math… There are three bouncy balls, and three of you. I will be throwing them about, and catching them. You must each get one in 30 minutes, or I will send you back home without a headband. Get it?"

That was it? Catch a bouncy ball? It didn't sound too difficult. Especially because they had half an hour to do it in! Kobu stood and clenched his fists. "Sounds easy!"

"Does it? Lets get started then." Something about their sensei's smile told Kobu that this wasn't going to be as easy as it sounded.


End file.
